Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation

A feast of mammaries, monsters and bloody mayhem, “Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!” is an affectionate, rollicking guide to the drive-in classics of Australian filmmaking from the 1970s and ’80s.

Throwing no more than a bone to the sociologists, Mark Hartley directs with fan-boy enthusiasm, his hyperactive style perfectly tuned to the movie’s wealth of trashy clips and trash-talking interviewees. Filmmakers, actors, critics—they’re all here to dish and reminisce.

“I never thought that Australia needed culture,” confesses the irrepressible Barry Humphries (better known to American audiences as Dame Edna), whose hilarious potshots at “Picnic at Hanging Rock” are some of the movie’s few G-rated moments. The cinematographer John Seale cherishes other memories. “The eyepiece fogged up regularly,” he says, recalling the filming of “Alvin Purple” with obvious delight.

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Mel Gibson in Mad Max, one of the movies discussed in Not Quite Hollywood, about Australian exploitation films.Credit
City Wide Films

Whether resurrecting underrated gems like “Next of Kin” or the eerie “Razorback,” or revealing that the reportedly obnoxious Jimmy Wang Yu (a k a the Man from Hong Kong) snacked on flies before kissing his leading lady, “Not Quite Hollywood” is all about the “fillums.”

Quentin Tarantino — naturally — is our antsy docent, extolling the artistic merits of the material with a frightening grasp of detail and back story. Unfortunately all of that is erased by the sight of a naked John Holmes emerging from a swimming pool. Don’t you hate when that happens?

Written and directed by Mark Hartley; director of photography, Karl von Moller; edited by Jamie Blanks, Sara Edwards and Mr. Hartley; music by Stephen Cummings and Billy Miller; produced by Michael Lynch and Craig Griffin; released by Magnet Releasing. At the Village East, Second Avenue at 12th Street, East Village. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.